Even Mike Barwis, he of wolves, cage-fighting and hype, will be reduced to just another fan, living and dying on every play, incapable at that point of doing anything to seriously affect the outcome.

This has been an unusual eight or nine months in the long and storied history of the University of Michigan football program, one filled with so much change, so much talk about lawsuits and buyouts, one where the Rodriguez and (somewhat bizarrely) his strength and conditioning coach, have dominated the headlines and dwarfed the guys who play the game.

None of that matters any more when the Wolverines run out of the tunnel and step between the lines against the University of Utah at Michigan Stadium.

Every football season ultimately comes down to the players, to how well they handle the pressure, execute the things they've been taught, and utilize their natural athletic gifts (or, in some cases, overcome a lack of them). Schemes and conditioning and play-calling certainly matter, but even the best of all of that is undone in an instant by a panicked quarterback, a slightly off-balance handoff, or a bone-headed moment by a defensive back or linebacker.

That simple reality is amplified by the circumstances surrounding this team.
Michigan has what's practically an all-new offensive cast trying to emerge from the shadows of Mike Hart, Chad Henne, Jake Long, Mario Manningham and others.

This is a defense with promise, and some experience, but no stars, at least as of yet.
And all of them will be learning new systems and new coaches, just as Rodriguez and his staff will be discovering who can withstand some of the biggest games and closest scrutiny in college football ... and who can't.

The bottom line on this Michigan season echoes Bill Clinton's famous 1992 campaign slogan: It's the kids, stupid.

The kids who'll emerge to define this team, and the kids who'll try and fail.
There will be plenty of both.

Some day - some day soon, the way Rodriguez is recruiting - the players will mostly be certainties. There will be depth at quarterback and slot, there will be more established names on both sides of the ball, and playmakers on defense, just like there were under former coach Lloyd Carr.

There will be no chance of a walk-on ever again starting at quarterback, as Nick Sheridan may very well do. There will be no need for 10 true freshmen to jump up in August and lay claim to spots on both sides of the ball and special teams.

But, again, this year is different. This year is a bit of an unknown in just about every area, and that's what makes it so interesting.

This year isn't a perfect fit.

A lot of these kids might not have been recruited by Rodriguez at West Virginia, and might not have been interested if they had been.

What can Rodriguez do with quarterbacks who weren't made to run his spread offense, wide receivers better suited for a pro set, and an offensive line that can, at this point, fairly be called patchwork?

And what can the kids do with opportunities created by an overly large exodus of seniors and transfers, combined with what's essentially a one-year shotgun marriage?

For walk-ons like Sheridan or kids who never found their place under former coach Lloyd Carr, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take advantage of. For freshmen like Martavious Odoms and Terrence Robinson, Michael Shaw and Sam McGuffie - shifty, multidimensional hybrid backs and receivers perfect for the spread, but absent on Lloyd Carr's teams - it's the chance to grab a much bigger piece of college football than will be available to the freshmen who come after them.

There are, of course, skeptics.

Sports Illustrated threw Wolverine fans into a tizzy with its prediction of a 5-7 season, which would be the most losses by a Michigan team since 1962 and snap the nation's longest active bowl streak at 33.

It could happen, but it shouldn't.

Again, it's about the kids.

Outside of Ohio State, there isn't another coaching staff in the Big Ten that wouldn't trade rosters with Rodriguez in about a minute. Michigan's locker room is filled with some of the best high school talent in the country.

Short on experience? Yes.

Not the perfect fit for the spread? Perhaps.

But also waiting for their opportunity, and certainly capable of producing a lot more than a 5-7 season.

Rodriguez and this program will be fine in the long run. There's little doubt about that. He has proved to be a charismatic figure, a relentless recruiter, and clearly has a plan for this program.

The question is this season and these kids, and what will they make of this unique opportunity?